It's Not a Plan, It's More of an Idea
by all.that.remains1235
Summary: Alec mopes, Jace is confused, and Isabelle just wants her brother to come out (of his room).


Jace is considering breaking Alec's door down. Alec hasn't shown up for training in three days (admittedly, Jace was a little distracted, what with the fae waitress Kaelie _winking_ at him every goddamn time he tried to get a burger from Taki's just because he flirted with her once or twice) but enough is enough. Jace raps on the door one more time before getting ready to kick it open.

"What the hell are you doing?" A voice stops him mid-kick.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm breaking down the door _._ Alec's been holed up in there for days."

Izzy stares at Jace. Her brow is furrowed, and Jace suddenly feels ashamed. He awkwardly tries to change the subject.

"I haven't seen you around either, come to think of it. Where-"

Izzy cuts him off, her voice tinged with sadness. "Do you know why Alec is hiding in there?"

Jace feels as if she knows something he doesn't. "No, do you?"

She ignores his question, her dark brown eyes inscrutable. "That's why." She walks away, her heels clicking on the wood floors of the Institute. Jace is left with a lingering sense of shame, although he doesn't know why. He backs away from Alec's door, then turns and follows Izzy down the hall.

…

Isabelle Lightwood has had enough. With Jace still trying to figure out what he did wrong, Alec still moping in his room, and her parents still in Alicante with Max, there's nothing _interesting_ to do. ( _Well, she could always go bother Hodge, but even that gets old after a while…_ )

Isabelle needs a plan. Usually, she would go to Alec, him having the whole "logic rules my life, planning, strategy, blah blah blah" thing, but as the point of said (nonexistent) plan is to get Alec out of his self-imposed seclusion, Isabelle doesn't think Alec will be much help.

That leaves Jace.

This is going to be a disaster.

…

Waking up to the scent of Isabelle Lightwood's cooking is an experience one would generally wish to avoid. Jace, however, handles said experience with the utmost grace and sophistication.

That is to say, he falls off the bed, hits the floor tangled in his sheets, swipes blindly with the knife he keeps under his pillow ( _What? He's a Shadowhunter. Demons don't wait for you to wake up_ ), and _finally_ registers Isabelle's (mocking) laughter.

"That," she says, stifling her giggles with the hand not holding her phone, "is definitely going on Instagram."

"Izzy! What the fuck!"

"I need your help." Izzy sobers. "I want to get Alec out of his room."

Jace is annoyed. "You woke me up for _that_? That's what I was trying to do earlier! You wouldn't let me!"

"You were trying to _kick down his door_! I was stopping you from getting murdered!"

"Please. I know Alec. I could take him." Jace scoffs, his pride wounded.

Izzy shakes her head. "If you think you could take him in his own room, when he's angry, you obviously don't know him as well as you think." She sighs. "Anyways, will you help me? I made you pancakes."

Izzy holds out a plate of… well, Jace isn't exactly sure what. They're certainly pancake _shaped_ , but the odor and the greenish hue…

Jace shivers. "I'll help you. But only if you don't make me eat those," he pauses. "Pancakes."

…

After three hours of planning with Jace, Isabelle is about to snap.

"We are not going to put spiders under his door. We want him to come out of his room willingly, not filled with murderous intent."

"But-"

" _No._ " Isabelle says firmly, and Jace, wisely, leaves it at that.

There's a long pause, and Jace flops back onto his bed. "We're never going to lure Alec out. He's too stubborn."

Isabelle joins Jace, landing only marginally more gracefully on her back. "I just want him back. I haven't seen him in days."

"Yeah." Jace agrees. "I need someone to train with."

Izzy, offended, sits up. "What's wrong with training with me?"

"Nothing. Alec is just… Alec."

"Yeah." Izzy, mollified, lays back down. They lapse into silence once more.

Suddenly, Izzy sits up again. "Wait. I have an idea."

"What?" Jace asks. "We're not going to get him out with repeated renditions of _Single Ladies_ and _Shake It Off_."

"No, no." Izzy brushes the jab aside. "Alec hates it when we go out clubbing, right? And he'd try to stop us from going? But he can't stop us if he's holed up in his room, right?"

Jace joins in. "So what you're saying is if we announce that we're going out…"

"Alec will have to come out and stop us! It's perfect!"

Jace grins. Izzy smirks. Their plan is foolproof (except really, really not).

…

Jace shows up outside Alec's door in full clubbing regalia- jeans, boots, and a t-shirt that he swears hugs him in "all the right places." Isabelle, however, is still in her pajamas. Jace is horrified.

"What the hell are you _wearing_?" he whispers, incredulous.

"What the hell are _you_ wearing?" she replies.

Jace is perplexed. "Aren't we going out? I thought we were trying to get Alec to follow us."

"No, you idiot." Izzy facepalms. "We're just _saying_ that we're going out, then waiting for Alec to emerge so we can catch him."

"Oh." Jace pouts. "Well, I like my plan better. I want to go clubbing."

Isabelle sighs, but doesn't put up a fight. After all, she loves going out as much as Jace. "Fine. Let me get changed." She disappears into her room. Jace hears the closet door squeak open; fabric rustles, water runs, and Izzy reappears in a surprisingly short amount of time (eleven minutes and fifty-seven seconds, according to Jace's watch, not that he was timing), looking like she could be right at home in a Las Vegas strip club. Jace whistles.

"Going for the "buy me a drink, I'm yours" look, are we?"

Isabelle scowls. "Fuck off. I look fabulous."

Jace has no arguments with that, so he faces Alec's door. "Ready?"

"Yep. I'll start." Izzy murmurs. She clears her throat. "Wow, _Jace_ , I sure am excited to go _clubbing_ tonight."

"Me, too, _Izzy_. Going to _Pandemonium_ will be a lot of fun. Too bad _Alec_ isn't here to stop us from making _IRRESPONSIBLE DECISIONS._ " Jace all but shouts the last phrase. He spins around and runs down the hallway. "Too much?" he mutters.

"Too much." Izzy agrees, running next to him.

They jog out the front doors of the Institute and hail a cab. "Pandemonium, please." Izzy says to the driver.

"Sure thing, miss." the driver replies, albeit a bit skeptically.

Izzy turns to face Jace. "Give me your stele. We need to glamour ourselves to get past the bouncers." Jace obliges.

As the taxi sputters and roars away, Jace looks back at the Institute. "Well, this will be fun." he says.

…

Three drinks later, Isabelle is feeling nauseous. Jace has vanished, no doubt seducing some poor mundane (she'll have to go find him), and Alec isn't showing. She pushes through the crowd, looking for Jace. He is, as she thought, flirting with a blonde, busty girl who looks to be about ten years older than he.

"Jace!" She calls, stumbling across the dance floor. He looks up. "Alec's not coming. We should go home."

Jace whispers something in the blonde's ear and heads over to Izzy. "He might still show up. Let's stay a little longer. Next drink's on me." He steers her over to the bar and motions for the bartender. "One beer and… one bloodhound cocktail, whatever that is." Izzy tries to protest, she really does, but… free booze is a tempting offer… oh, all right. One more drink.

…

It's two in the morning and Jace and Izzy are drunk. Blackout drunk. Jace stumbles and leans on Izzy. "Alec…" he giggles, "Alec is very late."

Izzy chuckles in agreement. "Late. Late Alec. Not… good. Veryyyyy late."

Jace trips over a bar stool. "Let's…" he gags. Nausea is rising in his throat. "Let's go kill some demons." His words are slurred. "That's our job. Killing… demons." He topples over and begins to snore. Izzy is bemused.

"Jace?" She shakes him. "Are you… killing demons without me?" Izzy giggles, and begins to vaguely sing. "Jace is killing demons. Jace is killing demons." She hiccoughs.

Her head hurts and her stomach feels funny. The night suddenly doesn't seem very fun anymore. "Jace? Take me with you! I want… to kill demons… too."

Izzy's vision begins to darken. A shadow looms over her, picking her up. She's too tired to protest. But before she drifts off to sleep, she thinks she catches a whiff of coffee and books and mint.

"Alec?" Izzy croaks, sinking into oblivion before she can catch the response.

…

Jace wakes in his bed in the Institute with a pounding headache and a violently protesting stomach. He runs to the adjoining bathroom and promptly vomits into the toilet. Jace groans, making his way back into his bedroom, fully intending to get another hour or five of sleep.

His plans, however, are thwarted by the presence of one Isabelle Lightwood, who is sitting on his bed. Jace groans again. "What do you want?"

Isabelle looks up. Jace has a small rush of vindictive pleasure upon seeing the bags under her eyes. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"Last night. I think Alec did come to get us. I don't remember that much, but I kind of feel like Alec was there, just before I passed out." Isabelle swallows, uncomfortable. "I also woke up to a glass of water and a couple of painkillers. You have them too."

Jace glances at his bedside table. There is, indeed, a tall glass of water sitting next to two aspirin. He lunges, downing the painkillers with a large swig of water. "Wait, so if Alec brought us home, he had to come out of his room. That means…" Jace's tired, aching brain works to process the new information. "Where is he?"

Izzy shrugs. "I think he's downstairs. I wanted to come talk to you before we see Alec."

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" Jace yells, and they both wince as his voice sends spikes of pain through their heads.

"Shut up, Jace." Isabelle snaps, closing her eyes. "You would have barged downstairs and probably just have scared Alec off." She massages her temples. "So? What should we say?"

"I don't know. Just ask him why he's avoiding us." Jace sits next to her. "Jesus. It's too early for this shit."

Isabelle nods in agreement. "It's way too early to be dealing with your stupidity. We can't just _ask_ him, dumbass. Alec'll bolt. He hates confrontation."

"Well, then, what do we say?"

Izzy is silent. "I don't know."

The pair is quiet, until Jace breaks the stillness. "I'm going down. I want some coffee and some more painkillers."

"No!" Izzy shrieks, far too loudly for Jace's throbbing skull. "We have to figure out what to say!"

Jace sighs. "We're not going to figure anything out. I'm going. You can stay here or come with me." Izzy, of course, chooses the latter option, trailing disconsolately behind Jace like a pale, hungover ghost.

Jace strides into the kitchen… and stops dead. "H-Hey, Alec." he stutters.

Alec is standing by the stove in one of his huge hoodies, frying bacon. A pot of freshly brewed coffee sits on the table, and there are mugs and plates out, ready to be used. The scene is so _normal_ that Jace and Isabelle almost forget that anything ever happened.

Almost.

Alec turns around. Jace and Izzy lean forward, anticipating their brother's first words in days. Alec takes a deep breath.

"Jonathan! Isabelle! How could you be so irresponsible? I had to drag you two home at two in the morning passed out drunk. I swear to Raziel, if you _ever_ pull this sort of thing again, I _will_ tell Mother." Alec is quite visibly angry. He's yelling instead of his usual muttering, and his fists are clenching in the sleeves of his holey hoodie. "What were you thinking?"

Izzy is the first to step forward. "We were trying to get _you_ to come out of your cave! You ignored us for _three fucking days_ , Alec."

Alec is fuming. "So you decide to get my attention by going out and getting drunk off your asses?"

"It got you out, didn't it?" Jace cuts in. "What were we supposed to do?"

"You could have waited it out like _normal human beings!_ " Alec roars. His face is growing steadily redder.

Izzy begins to sniff. "We were only trying to help you."

Alec, naturally, is horrified. "No, Izzy, don't cry. I'm sorry, okay? I-I just needed some time to think. That's all." The tension in the room breaks. Izzy stops sniveling.

Alec's siblings wait expectantly. "Go on." prompts Jace.

"Really, that's it. I'm fine now. I didn't mean to make you worry." Alec glances toward the stove, and his blue eyes widen. "Shit! Breakfast!" The bacon is smoking. Alec quickly dumps it onto a server, deposits eggs on three plates, and herds his siblings toward the table. "Eat."

The smell of burnt bacon permeates the kitchen, and Jace and Izzy fight back nausea. "You know what, I'm not very hungry."

"Me neither. I'm just going to… run to the bathroom…" Alec and Jace hear Izzy retching into the toilet. Jace turns green.

"I'm not feeling very well either." Jace gulps. "I think I'll just go lie down."

Alec watches Jace's retreating back and smirks. He'll take his little victories.

…

Jace and Izzy reconvene in Jace's room. The bed hasn't been made, but other than that, nothing is out of place. The jeans Jace wore last night are folded neatly and placed on the chair in the corner of the room.

"What the hell was that?" Jace is confused, and his head hurts.

"I have no idea." Izzy is in no better state. "Wait! Alec's out of his room, so… that means our plan worked!" She beams, then winces and drops her head into her hands.

Jace thinks. "Yeah, I guess it did. Good job team, and all that." He stretches. "Now get out. I'm expecting to get at least three more hours of beauty sleep."

"Well, you certainly need it." Isabelle's brown eyes twinkle with mirth. Jace growls.

"Out!" He points to the door.

"I'm going, I'm going." Izzy waves as she walks out the door. "God. I'm never drinking again."

"That's what you always say." Jace calls out to her as the door swings shut. Izzy flips him off and steps into her own room, closing the door. Honestly, some sleep sounds amazing. Alec better not go back into his shell while she's napping. They have some very important _things_ to discuss.

But first, sleep. Izzy sighs, pulling her sheets up to her neck. She drifts off with a smile on her face.


End file.
